Official AHL 2011-2012 Rule Book

Now that the American Hockey League season has started it’ll be time to take a look at the rule book. One addition is Rule 48 which deals with illegal checks to the head, copied below. For those just starting to watch AHL hockey, there is no instant replay at all. The main reason being that American Hockey League buildings are not equipped and the costs associated with getting it going. In many games the AHL does have two ref’s and two linesmen, majority of games you’ll only see one referee.

Here’s Rule 48 and the link to the whole rule book is at the bottom.

Rule 48 – Illegal Check to the Head
48.1 Illegal Check to the Head – A hit resulting in contact with an opponent’s head where the head is targeted and the principal point of contact is not permitted. However, in determining whether such a hit should have been permitted, the circumstances of the hit, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit or the head contact on an otherwise legal body check was unavoidable, can be considered.
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￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼SECTION 6 – PHYSICAL FOULS
￼￼￼48.2 Minor Penalty – For violation of this rule a minor penalty shall be assessed.
48.3 Major Penalty – There is no provision for a major penalty for this rule.
48.4 Game Misconduct – There is no provision for a game misconduct for this rule.
48.5 Match Penalty – The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a match penalty if, in his judgment, the player attempted to or deliberately injured his opponent with an illegal check to the head.

If deemed appropriate, supplementary discipline can be applied by the President at his discretion (refer to Rule 28).

If you want to read more click the following link to download the pdf: